WoW Forever Blacksmithing leveling guide 1-300: route, recipes, and trainers

Blacksmiths make plate and mail, weapons, sharpening stones and weightstones, plus parts other professions depend on, like rods for enchanters and Iron Buckles for leatherworkers and tailors. Sharpening stones and weightstones get used up on every raid, so people keep buying them long after they hit 60.

In Forever the profession pays off on the way to 60 too. Plans for whole sets of blue armor for levels 12-50 are sold for Merchant's Favor, new plans drop from mobs, and from skill 20 you can set up a Sharpening Wheel by the campfire to give Strength to everyone sitting nearby. At 140 you get the Anvil, which you can put down in camp and forge right out in the field.

Mining is the natural partner. The route eats almost 4,000 bars and more than 560 grinding stones, and the gems for the mid-route weapons come out of ore veins too. Smelting your own bars makes leveling a lot cheaper, and the stone from veins goes straight into sharpening stones and grinding stones. The Dark Iron Shoulders on the route also need Dark Iron Bar (48), and only miners can smelt dark iron, at the Black Forge in Blackrock Depths.

• The Master Forge replaces a regular anvil. Seventeen recipes you could forge at any anvil in Classic now need the Master Forge, including Arcanite Reaper, Hammer of the Titans, Lionheart Helm, and all the Enchanted Thorium armor. Another 23 new high-level recipes can only be forged there too. The Master Forge is a camp item, and the camp section has the details.
• Camp items. At skill 20 the trainer teaches you the Sharpening Wheel. Set it up by a campfire and it gives Strength to everyone nearby. At 140 you can swap it for an Anvil, and at 300 for the Master Forge.
• Hammers in the throwing slot. The Mithril Blacksmith Hammer (from skill 195) and the Arcanite Blacksmith Hammer (from 270) are throwing weapons that also count as a Blacksmith Hammer, so you don't have to carry the regular hammer in your bags anymore. The Cracked Blacksmith Hammer doesn't count as a smithing tool and is just a throwing weapon. We don't know yet where the plans for any of the three come from.
• Sharpening stones and weightstones stack with poisons. Warcraft Tavern reports that in Forever they stay on a weapon alongside rogue poisons, Windfury Weapon, and Windfury Totem. That means more customers for blacksmiths.
• More than 170 new recipes. About 60 are sold for Merchant's Favor, more than twenty are sold for gold once you have the reputation, some drop from mobs, and for the sixty-odd that are left, not even Wowhead knows the source yet. The new recipes section has the details.
• Reagents from other professions. The new recipes often call for materials from other professions: Sandpaper from engineers (25 Blacksmithing recipes use it) and Sulfuric Acid from alchemists (30 recipes). Level 60 items also need new metals, Azerothium Bar and Heavy Thorium Bar from miners and Legionite Bar, which alchemists transmute.
• Legacy. You earn a Legacy point the first time you reach 150, 225, and 300, and the Working Overtime perk in the professions branch adds up to 20% to your skill-up chance. You can set its rank in the profession calculator.

The route is built from the beta client data. Each stretch uses the recipe that raises your skill the cheapest, and it skips green recipes once your chance of a point drops below half. That's about 390 crafts in total. Craft counts are averages. While a recipe is orange, every craft gives a point, but once it turns yellow, and green even more so, some crafts give nothing, so buy a few spare materials. The route assumes you don't have a specialization, and the specialization section explains how to account for yours.

Almost every recipe needs a Blacksmith Hammer in your bags and an anvil nearby, so the steps don't keep reminding you. Every blacksmith in cities and villages has an anvil. Only sharpening stones, weightstones, grinding stones, and camp items can be made without a hammer and anvil.

The start is the cheapest part. Copper Rod is a new Forever recipe you learn with the profession, and it takes one Copper Bar per rod all the way to 13. Don't throw the rods away, because enchanters make their first runed rod out of them. Then Copper Bracers take you to 40. From 40 to 65 you switch between Coarse Sharpening Stone, Copper Chain Pants, and Coarse Grinding Stone, and from 65 to 100 two copper belts carry you: Copper Chain Belt and Runed Copper Belt. Getting to 100 takes Copper Bar (about 450 in total).

From 100 to 160 you make Heavy Sharpening Stone and bronze gear: Patterned Bronze Bracers to 140, Silvered Bronze Gauntlets to 155, and the Bronze Warhammer for the last five points. This stretch needs Bronze Bar (about 400), Silver Bar (21), and, for the bracers and gauntlets, Coarse Grinding Stone (almost 120). You'll still have 18 grinding stones left over from 50-63, and the route buys the rest.

The middle of the route runs on steel. Golden Scale Bracers cover 160-198, with a short break for Solid Sharpening Stone, and the Steel Plate Helm takes you from 198 to 221. That's 28 helms, and the big cost here is Steel Bar (almost 400). Next you forge the Mithril Coif four times (it also needs Mageweave Cloth), then Dense Weightstone from 225 and Heavy Mithril Boots up to 241.

At 241 the most expensive stretch starts, which is trainer weapons. The Shatterer goes to 245, Phantom Blade to 250, Blight to 263, and Truesilver Champion to 273. This is where most of the metal goes: Mithril Bar (about 1,270) and Truesilver Bar (504). Besides bars, the weapons need gems (mostly Star Ruby, 90 in all) and the elemental reagents Breath of Wind and Core of Earth. The 250-263 step adds Ichor of Undeath (a full 180), and you'll have to buy Lesser Invisibility Potion (12) from alchemists.

From 273 the trainer has nothing left with a decent skill-up chance, so the route switches to plans you buy or find. Bold Dirk takes you to 275, Thorium Shield Spike to 283, Dark Iron Shoulders to 288, Huge Thorium Battleaxe to 290, and Radiant Boots to 295, and Radiant Circlet gives the last five points. Plans: Bold Dirk is sold for Merchant's Favor, and the two dirks also need Azerothium Bar (20) from miners and Essence of Air (8). Plans: Huge Thorium Battleaxe is sold by Magnus Frostwake in Caer Darrow. The plans for the spike, the Radiant Boots, and the Radiant Circlet drop from mobs and don't bind, so you can buy them on the Auction House. Plans: Dark Iron Shoulders drops from mobs too, but it binds on pickup, so you'll have to farm it yourself. The shoulders can only be forged at the Black Anvil in Blackrock Depths. From 273 to 300 the biggest cost is Thorium Bar (about 460), and you'll also need Dense Grinding Stone (68), Heart of Fire (56), Dark Iron Bar (48), Rugged Leather (32), and Essence of Earth (22).

If you're missing some of the plans, can't get to the Black Anvil, or want to price the route for your realm, open it in the calculator. You can start from your current skill, take a recipe out, set your specialization, and pick the cheapest or the fastest path. Set "Recipes learned from items" to "Whenever they are cheaper" and the calculator switches to monster-drop plans as early as 235, starting with Mithril Spurs. You can get to 285 on trainer recipes alone if you keep making Truesilver Champion past 273, but the last 15 points need plans.

The route above raises your skill, but it makes almost no money. Players outgrow leveling armor and weapons fast, and everyone leveling Blacksmithing lists the same pieces on the Auction House. If you want your forge to pay for itself, make what other professions and raids need. Here's what will definitely sell in Forever, and why.

You won't find prices here. The beta was capped at level 30, so nobody has seen real level 60 prices yet, and after launch your realm's Auction House will show them. Before you forge a batch, compare the price of the finished item with the cost of the bars that go into it.

Every Blacksmithing trainer teaches Apprentice (up to 75), and you'll find them in every capital except Darnassus and in a lot of starting areas. After that your options narrow. Journeyman unlocks at skill 50 and character level 10, Expert at skill 125 and level 20, and Artisan at skill 200 and level 35. Only three trainers teach Expert, and Artisan is only taught by Brikk Keencraft in Booty Bay, who trains both factions. If your character falls behind, your skill stalls at the rank cap, so it's easiest to level Blacksmithing alongside your character.

We put the list together from Wowhead and wow-professions.com, and not every trainer was checked on the beta.

Forever's game files have the same Blacksmithing specializations as Classic, Armorsmith and Weaponsmith, and a Weaponsmith can later master one weapon type: Master Swordsmith, Master Hammersmith, or Master Axesmith. The quests are there too. The Armorsmith quest comes from Grumnus Steelshaper in Ironforge (The Art of the Armorsmith) and Okothos Ironrager in Orgrimmar (The Art of the Armorsmith), and it asks for Ornate Mithril Helm (4), Ornate Mithril Boots (2 pairs), and Ornate Mithril Breastplate (1). The Weaponsmith quest comes from Ironus Coldsteel in Ironforge (The Way of the Weaponsmith) and Borgosh Corebender in Orgrimmar (The Way of the Weaponsmith), and it asks for Moonsteel Broadsword (4), Massive Iron Axe (4), Heavy Mithril Axe (2), and Big Black Mace (2). The data doesn't show yet where the Ornate Mithril plans for the Armorsmith quest come from in Forever.

The master quests are made for level 60. Sweet Serenity and Corruption send you to Stratholme, and Snakestone of the Shadow Huntress to Blackrock Spire.

The plans show what each choice gets you. Without Armorsmith you can't learn Dark Iron Plate, Dark Iron Bracers, Lionheart Helm, or any of the Thorium Brotherhood epic armor. Weaponsmiths get Heartseeker, Black Amnesty, and Blackfury, and the masters get Arcanite Reaper (axes), Hammer of the Titans (hammers), and Arcanite Champion (swords). New Forever recipes with plans in the game files don't need a specialization.

We don't know yet if these quests work in Forever the same way as in Classic. The beta was capped at level 30, and Warcraft Tavern says there was no way to test them there. In Classic the chain opened at skill 200.

Camps are new in Forever. You light a campfire almost anywhere, and every player nearby can put down one item from their profession. Everyone who sits or works by the fire for at least a minute gets the buff, and all camp items share a one-hour cooldown. Blacksmiths have three of them. The Sharpening Wheel gives a Strength buff, and each of the next two gives the same buff plus something extra.

You learn the Sharpening Wheel from the trainer at skill 20 for 1 silver. The quest Camping 101: Blacksmithing and its copies in other zones just send you to the local trainer. Wowhead lists Blueprint: Anvil as a drop from Gilnid in the Deadmines, at about 0.2%. Warcraft Tavern reports that you can forge regular recipes at a placed Anvil out in the field.

The Master Forge is another story. Nobody knows where Blueprint: Master Forge comes from, and Wowhead has no source at all for Golem Heart, the part you need to build the forge. Until that's cleared up, the 40 Master Forge recipes are a question mark. They're not part of the leveling route anyway, since you can only place the forge at 300, when there's nothing left to level.

Item	Skill	Materials	Recipe source	What it gives
Sharpening Wheel	20	Rough Stone and Copper Bar	Trainer, for 1 silver	6 to 34 Strength for everyone at the campfire; does not stack with Strength of Earth Totem
Anvil	140	Bronze Bar (5), Coarse Grinding Stone (2), Medium Leather (2)	Blueprint: Anvil, which drops from the boss Gilnid in the Deadmines	An anvil for forging, plus the same Strength buff
Master Forge	300	Golem Heart, Thorium Bar (5), Rugged Leather (2)	Blueprint: Master Forge, source unknown	A forge for 40 recipes, plus the same Strength buff

Most of the new recipes, about 60 of them, are sold for Merchant's Favor by Gor'mak at the Horde camp in the Barrens and Stondry Darkhammer at the Alliance camp in Redridge Mountains. That includes five lines of blue armor for levels 12-25 (Veteran's, Guard's, Protector's, Acolyte's, and Crusader's), five more for 35-50 (Officer's, Sentinel's, Warder's, Prefect's, and Justicar's), and Enriched Thorium gear for 60. For example, Plans: Veteran's Silvered Chain Helm costs 30 Favor and needs skill 95, and Plans: Justicar's Gauntlet costs 60 and needs Friendly with the trading company. Almost all of this armor binds on pickup, so it's gear for you, not for the Auction House. Our Merchant's Favor guide covers how to build up Favor.

Other recipes cost plain gold, but you need the right reputation, and they have nothing to do with Merchant's Favor. Plans for the Skyforged pieces for levels 5-30 need Friendly or Honored with the Nightclaw Druids, the Earthen Ring, or the Kirin Tor, and the plans for the new Goregasher and Clutchlord's Grips, Supports, and Stompers need Cenarion Circle reputation. The Grips, Supports, and Stompers themselves can only be forged at the Master Forge. The calculator marks these recipes with the reputation vendor and the standing and faction you need.

Mobs drop plans for Sterling Silver (skill 100-125) and Hard Gold (145-175) pieces, new weapons (like Brass Knuckles and Bronze Dory), and a lot of classic items, such as Plans: Radiant Circlet, the plan our route ends with. All told, 66 Blacksmithing recipes still have no known source, including the Blessed Plate armor and all three new hammers.

You barely need the new recipes to level. By default the calculator only uses recipes learned from items when the trainer has nothing useful left, and it weighs them against a regular vendor plan. A step on a plan from the Auction House or for Merchant's Favor counts double, one that needs reputation counts triple, and a bind-on-pickup plan you have to farm yourself counts four times. That's why from 273 the route mostly uses classic monster-drop plans, one of the two axe plans Magnus Frostwake sells in Caer Darrow, and a single new recipe, Bold Dirk for Merchant's Favor, at just two crafts. Get the new recipes for the items themselves, and level your skill with the route above.

Bars are the backbone of the profession, and the route uses almost 4,000 of them: Mithril Bar (almost 1,500), Steel Bar (almost 580), Truesilver Bar (504), Thorium Bar (more than 450), Copper Bar (about 450), Bronze Bar (about 400), Dark Iron Bar (48), Silver Bar (21), and Azerothium Bar (20). Copper and bronze get you to 160, steel covers 160-221, mithril and truesilver cover 221-273, and thorium, dark iron, and azerothium cover the last 27 points. Miners smelt steel from iron and coal at a forge, and azerothium, a new Forever metal, comes from miners too.

The route needs more than 560 grinding stones: Coarse Grinding Stone (118), Heavy Grinding Stone (74), Solid Grinding Stone (304), and Dense Grinding Stone (68). It only makes 18 coarse ones itself, at 50-63, and buys the rest, because at the calculator's prices making them costs more. If you mine your own, set your stone's price to 0 and the calculator will make grinding stones as you go: Coarse Grinding Stone (Coarse Stone, 2 per stone), Heavy Grinding Stone (Heavy Stone, 3 per stone), Solid Grinding Stone (Solid Stone, 4 per stone), and Dense Grinding Stone (Dense Stone, 4 per stone). The coarse recipe is already in the training total. You learn the other three from the trainer separately, and the calculator adds them to your training cost. The route itself doesn't need much raw stone, and all of it goes into sharpening stones, the weightstone, and coarse grinding stones: Coarse Stone (47), Heavy Stone (11), Solid Stone (9), and Dense Stone (9).

For leather you'll need Thick Leather (286) for the mithril boots and weapons, Rugged Leather (32) for the thorium axes and dirks, and Medium Leather (6) for the bronze warhammers, and the mithril coifs take Mageweave Cloth (24). The mithril and truesilver weapons need gems: Star Ruby (90), Aquamarine (36), and Citrine and Jade (30 each). One weapon on the route, Blight, also needs Ichor of Undeath (180 for the whole step). The elemental reagents add up to Breath of Wind (96), Heart of Fire (56), Core of Earth (24), Essence of Earth (22), and Essence of Air (8). You'll need Lesser Invisibility Potion (12) from alchemists, and vendors sell the Strong Flux (6) for the bronze warhammers.

We don't list bar prices. There are none before launch, and after that they'll change every day. Copper and bronze are usually the cheapest, since copper ore is in every starting zone, but in the first days after launch everyone's leveling professions at once and prices jump all over. The priciest parts will be the mithril, truesilver, and thorium in the second half of the route, plus whatever other professions make for you.

• Crafting green recipes until they go gray. The last points on a green recipe take several times more crafts than on a yellow one. As soon as a recipe turns green, check whether there's something better.
• Forgetting about ranks. Your skill caps at 75, 150, and 225 until you learn the next rank, and each rank needs a character level: 10 for Journeyman, 20 for Expert, and 35 for Artisan. Artisan is only taught in Booty Bay, so plan time for the trip.
• Selling the stone from veins. Grinding stones go into almost every recipe in the middle of the route (coarse ones into 54 recipes, heavy ones into 70), and the route needs more than 560 of them. The calculator buys them by default, but if you mine your own, keep the stone and make grinding stones out of it.
• Leaving the plans for the last minute. From 273 the route runs on plans you buy or find. Three are on the Auction House, Plans: Huge Thorium Battleaxe is sold by Magnus Frostwake in Caer Darrow, and the dirk costs Merchant's Favor. The Dark Iron Shoulders plan binds on pickup, though, so you have to farm it yourself, and the shoulders can only be forged at the Black Anvil in Blackrock Depths. Collect the plans while you're still making mithril and truesilver weapons, so you don't get stuck at 273.
• Picking a specialization to help you level. The route gets to 300 without one. The Armorsmith and Weaponsmith recipes matter for level 60 items, so choose by what you want to wear or sell, then set your choice in the calculator.
• Learning every recipe the trainer has. Most of the trainer's list isn't needed for leveling. Learn what's on the route, and the rest when you actually need the items.